Plenty of Fish: An Overview of the Popular Dating Site

Plenty of Fish (POF) has been a popular dating website for a while now. Even with the start-up of a lot of similar dating sites, it seems to be going strong and acquiring new users.

If you are trying to decide which dating site you should use, you might have some questions about POF. Let’s take a look at the company and how the site works. Then you can determine if it is right for you. In this review, we’ll look at some FAQs and go over the website’s features.

Plenty of Fish Background and Ownership

Plenty of Fish has been around since 2003. It was started by a Canadian and then sold to Match Group in 2015. You might not have heard of Match Group specifically, however, they are the owners of several other popular dating sites like Match.com, Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge.

Plenty of Fish FAQ

We spent a lot of time on the POF website as well as places like Similarweb to really dig into the dating website. We were a little surprised to see how popular POF remains even with the trendy competitive apps and sites out there now. There have been a ton of improvements to the site over the years which have kept it relevant and easy to use. Here are some frequently asked questions that we wanted to cover.

Is POF Website a Scam?

Plenty of Fish is not a scam. The website is owned by a credible company and has been used by hundreds of thousands of people.

Are There Scammers/Fake Profiles on Plenty of Fish?

Yes, we have discovered that there are fake profiles on the POF site. Just like any other dating site out there, unfortunately, there are people who create fake profiles to catfish and scam people. However, POF has taken steps to limit this.

Is Plenty of Fish Good for Hookups?

A lot of people use POF for just hooking up rather than for finding serious relationships. In fact, you select the reason you’re there when building your profile. There is a section labeled “Intent” that allows you to choose from five different options.

The options are:

1. “I’m looking for Casual dating/No Commitment.”
2. “I want to date but nothing serious.”
3. “I want a relationship.”
4. “I am putting in serious effort to find someone.”
5. “I am serious and I want to find someone to marry.”

Use the first option of casual dating/no commitment to find hookups.

Is Plenty of Fish Good for Long-Term Relationships?

People also use POF for finding lasting relationships. You can view their page dedicated to the success stories of some of their users here. Just like when looking for hookups, you can use the list in the section above to choose the right intent for finding a serious relationship.

To find other people looking for something long-term. You’d want to use one of the last three options depending on your level of intent.

• Choose “I want a relationship.” for casual relationships that can turn into something long term.
• Select “I am putting in serious effort to find someone.” to find others that are really serious about something long-term.
• Or you can choose “I am serious and I want to find someone to marry.” if you want to be really straightforward about your goal of marriage in the near future.

Just remember that people can select whichever option they’d like with a click of a button. Just because someone says they are looking for a relationship on POF, doesn’t mean that they will actually stick around for one after hooking up.

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What age group Is Plenty of Fish for?

The age parameters for POF is 18-69 years old. According to Statista, 5% of users are 18-29 years old, 11% are 33-44 years old, 15% are 45-54 years old, 12% are between 55-64 years old, and 5% are 65 and older.

So, the majority of POF users are between 33 and 54 years old.

How Does POF Rank in Popularity Against Other Dating Sites?

While Tinder seems to be taking over the dating world, Plenty of Fish is hanging in as a popular dating website. It receives over 30 million monthly visitors. It falls into fourth place out of the ten popular dating sites I searched for the table below.

Dating Site Monthly Visitor Statistics

What Country Are POF Users From?

POF users are primarily from the United States (61%) and Canada (12%). Almost 11% of its users are from the United Kingdom. About 5% are from Australia. About 4% are from Spain.

How Do You Use POF to Meet People?

There are a few different ways to find people on POF. You can use the classic search tool, use their Tinder-style Meet Me section, or go to the Live stream portion and find people in your area. I recommend using all three until you find a way that you prefer to find people and have some success in connecting with them.

How to Use the Search Feature on POF

Plenty of Fish has a few different ways that you can look for people to meet. The first being the search feature. You can search through people by filtered preferences and see who catches your eye.

You used to be able to search users on POF without having an account. However, with the site upgrades in 2022, you must have an account to be able to access the search.

The search portion allows you to filter out people who you might be interested in by letting you search by

• Gender
• Age
• Intent
• Location
• What they look like (height, hair color, etc.)
• Religion
• Education
• Income
• Marital status
• Longest relationship
• If they smoke
• Whether or not they do drugs
• If they drink
• If they have children
• If they want children

Once you have all of the filters you want to use in place, you are left with a group of people that fit your selections. You can check out their profiles and see if they would be a good match for you. If you think they are, you can send them a message from their profile.

How to Find Members With the “Meet Me” Feature

The “Meet Me” search feature works a lot like Tinder. You are taken through a carousel of people and you say yes or no to them based on their profile photo. Their age, location, and headline are shown under the photo to give you a little more information. You can also click on their profile before you make a decision.

If you like them, you swipe right or click the green checkmark. If you aren’t interested, you swipe left or click the red X. If you are a mutual match, meaning you both said yes to each other, then their profile will show under the “It’s Mutual” tab.

Using the Live! On Plenty of Fish

In May of 2022, POF launched Plenty of Fish Live! which allows members to stream themselves. You can access this portion of the site from the app or a desktop. When someone is streaming, others can watch them and chat with them through a chat box.

While this sounds awful for those of us who are quiet and introverted, I think it’s a great option to put yourself out there and show others what you’re like. Or you don’t ever have to go live but can browse the users who do that live near you.

It seems like the streaming portion of POF is more for social interaction and is much like conversational Twitch streaming. So if you’re super serious about meeting someone, we’d stick to the main search for most of the time.

Gift Giving on Plenty of Fish Live!

If you really like the person you are watching stream, you can choose to give them a gift. Each virtual gift has a credit amount. You must first purchase Live Credits and then can send out gifts with them.

Here are how much POF Live! credits run:

• $0.99 for 100 credits
• $4.99 for 575 credits
• $14.99 for 2,300 credits
• $24.99 for 4,255 credits
• $99.99 for 18,975 credits
• $249.99 for 50,00 credits

The person you send the virtual gift to earns Diamonds from your gesture. These diamonds can be converted to Live credits or cash. There are three different tiers that you can cash out at.

• 80,000 Diamonds can be cashed out for $200
• 200,000 Diamonds can be cashed out for $500
• 400,000 Diamonds can be cashed out for $1,000

Paid Upgrades

There are several upgrades that are unlocked when you pay on Plenty of Fish. The options are a little confusing as there are different purchase options on different parts of the website. You can either purchase tokens that unlock some things on the site or you can purchase a premium membership that unlocks other things. Here is an overview of the difference and what you can get with each option.

Premium Membership

The premium membership is paid monthly. You have to commit to a 3, 6, or 12-month plan when you sign up. The 3-month plan is $20 per month. The 6-month plan is $15 per month. If you choose the 12-month plan it’s $10 per month.

Here are the benefits of a premium membership:

• See who likes you
• Unlimited Likes
• Unlimited First Contacts
• Username search
• First look at new members
• Extended profile viewing
• Read receipts on messages
• Up to 16 images on your profile
• No ads

Using POF Tokens

You pay for tokens and use them on “POF’s attention-grabbing technology” that you can use throughout the site. You can purchase 1 token at $3.99, 5 tokens at $14.95, or 10 tokens at $19.90.

Here are the things you can use your POF tokens on:

• A “Super Yes” on the “meet me” portion of the site which will make you 56.3% more likely to get a mutual match.
• You can highlight your profile to stand out from others.
• Priority messaging which places your message at the top of the person’s inbox.
• You can see the people who are interested in you (that have liked your profile).
• Get to the top on Meet Me. Your picture will show up first giving you more of a chance to get a match.
• See people’s extended profiles that show hidden information that isn’t on their normal profile.